What was the biggest election surprise?

Did you participate in an election pool and lose because you
picked Rob McKenna over Jay Inslee? Did you think Linda Simpson
would carry her primary momentum into the general election and
defeat Charlotte Garrido in the county commissioner’s race? Did you
buy into Karl Rove’s “math you do as a Republican to make
yourself feel better” and think all the polls predicting an Obama
victory were slanted?

Or was it something else? Was the margin of victory for gay
marriage proponents slimmer than you thought it would be? Did
Washington voters allowing for charter schools surprise you?

Thought Charters would win by a greater margin , the pro charter school folks spent so much and only heard the anti message in letters and left leaning cenetered areas.

Figured gay marriage would pass, actually a little closer then I thought .

Thought McKenna had a good chance , but it would be close do to the King County vote and their ability to really get out to vote .

Was surprised some of the state candidates won who had some questionable background sin the democratic paarty , bank rupt hsitories hurt republicans here , I guess it would state wide also . Wrong again .

Thought Romney was going to win , the unity that supported him was quite positive within republican circles .Obviously it was only within the republican party and we were seeing things more with the heart then the reading on the wall . Much more then 2008 was republican unity . The finger pointing weirdley is more now also among republicans . I thought Romney stood toe to with the President in the debates , and it seemed like he thought he was winning because of his laid back appearance in the third debate . I figured the pros most know . Also The president never seems to have to deal with standing on a equal platform in how the press handles him , he just seems like hes gets too many passes . No hard questions .

Figured Gelder and Garritto would lock it up , The Charter government attempt was stopped last time when we tried to change how our county leaders were elected by the democrats , one party rule is Kitsap County . Even trying to get a better represntation of people is stopped when one party sees it may loose total control . The democratic party is really run by a very left leaning idealogy . Usually elected reps are a little more to the middle then the grass roots , not the case in Kitsap .

Living out here it is harder to read elections in my opinion , the media is left of center and hard to see the electorate in a real sense by the coverage . Up to the huricanne I thought Romney had it , not sure if it had anything to do with it , I just don’t see that many votes changing , but after the huricanne the conversation changed .

Finally ..
The election is over, the talking is done.
My party lost, your party won.
So let us be friends, let arguments pass.
I’ll hug my elephant, and you kiss your ass.
Happy Thanksgiving!

I was disappointed that Charter Schools and Marijuana won. I don’t think either one will work. As for Same Sex Marriage, I voted against it, but I really don’t care since even straights don’t honor marriage and cohabit without it. In my day that would have been unthinkable for nice people.

The biggest surprise for me was the Haigh/Griffey race. The buzz going into this same match up for the second time was that many Democrats were not super happy with Haigh and how she was or was not running her campaign/fundraising. Frankly Griffey had the easiest possible scenario handed to him on a silver platter for a win. You combine that with three years, on his part, of non-stop district campaigning, kissing butt in Olympia, the blessing of Debolt and increased fundraising yet he still could not pull off a win….again.

The Simpson loss did not surprise me. The sparkle of something new, the feel good stories of non-related personal challenges that were overcome and a bubbly personality created and carried whatever momentum into the primary and smoothed over some obvious mistakes and ignorance on issues. However between the primary and the general election when no actual substance, details or relatable experience was publically promoted or in some cases even revealed, whatever momentum there was went away and was forgotten well before November 6th rolled around.

I remember having just this same conversation with you Steven right after the Bremerton City Council Retreat earlier this year;-)

When you are running as a Republican in Kitsap/Mason, popularity and appeal only go so far and never enough to win on. There has to be an established, credible amount of personal civic involvement, understanding and participation on and around local issues prior to any decision to run if Republicans want to even think about winning even under the best conditions.

Drew MacEwen understood this very well. I met personally with him and I know he did. Which is why he won in the same district that Griffey did not.